Team management and cognitive reinforcement system and method of use

ABSTRACT

A system that providing an interactive means for one or more team members to learn about and better-react to opponents in upcoming games is provided. The system operates by repeatedly running drill sessions having a dynamic difficulty, where the difficulty is automatically set, based on the success of the player performing the drill session, and other characteristic about the player.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a divisional application of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 15/484,801, filed on Apr. 11, 2017, entitled “TEAM MANAGEMENTAND COGNITIVE REINFORCEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD OF USE”, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/320,879, entitled“TEAM MANAGEMENT AND COGNITIVE REINFORCEMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD OF USE,”filed on Apr. 11, 2016, the contents of each of which are herebyincorporated by reference, including the specification.

FIELD OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The field of the present invention and its embodiments relates to asystem for team management and cognitive reinforcement for the playerson said team. In particular, the present invention relates to a systemthat provides an interactive means for one or more team members to learnabout and better react to opponents in upcoming games by repeatedlyrunning drill sessions of a dynamic difficulty, where the difficulty isautomatically set, based on the success of the player performing thedrill session.

BACKGROUND

For as long as sports have existed, coaches have been scouting theiropponents to find critical information and have been using thatinformation to better prepare their team members to play against saidopponent. Despite the best efforts of coaches, and due to the timeconstraints placed on many teams due to the schedule of their players,in-person practice fails to adequately prepare the players for anupcoming matchup, especially on sports teams with a large amount ofmembers. While there are some aspects of preparation that cannot bereplicated outside of in-person practice, many more aspects ofpreparation do not require the in-person attention of a coach.

One such aspect of preparation is reviewing an opponent's basicoffensive and defensive strategies, formations, and plays. In Americanfootball, for example, during the few days immediately prior to acompetition, team members regularly perform many drills against playersrunning their opponent's various offensive and defensive strategies,formations, and plays. Usually second- and third-string athletes act asthe opponent in the hopes of giving the first-string athletes a goodidea of what their opponent will do during the upcoming competition.

One problem with this arrangement is that the second- and third-stringathletes do not get to practice the plays of their own team, as they arebusy preparing the first-string players. As such, when a first-stringplayer gets hurt during a game, the second- or third-string player isnot adequately prepared to be substituted in.

Another problem with this arrangement is that the second- andthird-string athletes are rarely familiar with the opponent's offenseand defense, which presents many inefficiencies in running these plays,as the second- and third-string athletes often have questions aboutwhere to line-up, who to block, where the point of attack is, who getsthe ball and where, how far down the field or court one should go, andwhat defense and/or coverage they are supposed to be in, among otherthings. The amount of time required to ask and address all of thesequestions during a practice where time is already the limiting factorputs serious strain on the efficacy of practice. Further, when theathletes choose to not ask these questions, mistakes frequently getmade, thus detracting from the value of the drill to the first-stringathletes.

Moreover, even if the above problems do not occur, additional failuresin this arrangement arise due to the disparity in athletic abilitybetween first-string athletes and their backups. This disparity isparticular pronounced in basketball, where the starters will not beadequately challenged, both physically and mentality. There, thestarters will not be forced to utilize and practice more advancedtechniques, preventing them from improving their overall abilities intime for their next competition. In American football, this disparitycan manifest in a number of catastrophic ways. For example, the playerswho line up on the line of scrimmage may not be familiar with thetechniques and knowledge required to successfully execute the calledplay.

In addition to the above-mentioned problems, time restraints onin-person practice can become more pronounced when some athletes requireextra time to understand or learn what is being taught. When theseplayers who require additional time are not first-string athletes, thefact that they typically participate in fewer practice repetitionsleaves those players effectively unable to adequately prepare for anupcoming matchup. This is particularly true for students with learningdisabilities. When all of the above is combined with the fact that insome sports a coach is also responsible for up to 100+ athletes, theability of the coach to check for retention of all of the necessaryinformation in each player is difficult if not impossible.

As such, there exists a need for an invention that can enable athleteson various sports teams to engage in effective preparation outside ofin-person practice such that all players on said team can be preparedfor an upcoming competition, regardless of time constraints imposed onin-person practice.

REVIEW OF RELATED TECHNOLOGY

U.S. Pat. No. 8,744,869 pertains to a team communication platform thatcombines messaging, video, testing, reporting, work flow diagramming,presentations, and performance analysis into a portal system that ismade mobile through the use of synchronization services.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,670,648 pertains to video processing methods thatinclude correlating a video frame in a video stream with event data in adata stream based on a video frame time stamp and an event data timestamp, the time stamps being based on a time scale that is independent,and recording the correlation in a database. Other video processingmethods include receiving a query for a video frame and searching forevent data in a database. The database has an event data table and avideo data table used in locating the video frame. Further videoprocessing methods include receiving a query to retrieve a video clipfor each of a plurality of plays, searching for event data in adatabase, locating the video clip for each of the plurality of plays,and compiling the video clips into a compiled video stream lacking videoframes that do not satisfy the query.

U.S. Pat. No. 7,887,329 pertains to a system and method for training asubject for control processes, preferably for a particular task. Thetask may optionally comprise a sport, such as basketball for example;additionally or alternatively, the task may comprise an area of skillsto be improved, such as general improvement of physical reflexes and/orreactions. The present invention enables cognitive skills associatedwith the task to be improved, without requiring physical fidelity to thephysical actions that are normally performed during the actual task.Improving these cognitive skills results in improved control processesduring performance of the actual task by the subject.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,445,364 pertains to a virtual computer monitor isdescribed which enables instantaneous and intuitive visual access tolarge amounts of visual data by providing the user with a large displayprojected virtually in front of the user. The user wears a head-mounteddisplay containing a head-tracker, which together allow the user toposition an instantaneous viewport provided by the head-mounted displayat any position within the large virtual display by turning to look inthe desired direction. The instantaneous viewport further includes amouse pointer, which may be positioned by turning the user's head, andwhich may be further positioned using a mouse or analogous controldevice. A particular advantage of the virtual computer monitor isintuitive access to enlarged computer output for visually-impairedindividuals.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,489 pertains to a system for assessing a user'smovement capabilities creates an accurate simulation of sport toquantify and train several novel performance constructs by employing:proprietary optical sensing electronics for determining, in essentiallyreal time, the player's positional changes in three or more degrees offreedom; and computer controlled sport specific cuing that evokes orprompts sport specific responses from the player. In certain protocolsof the present invention, the sport specific cuing may be characterizedas a “virtual opponent”, that may be kinematically andanthropomorphically correct in form and action. Though the virtualopponent could assume many forms, the virtual opponent is responsive to,and interactive with, the player in real time without any perceivedvisual lag. The virtual opponent continually delivers and/or responds tostimuli to create realistic movement challenges for the player. Themovement challenges are typically comprised of relatively short,discrete movement legs, sometimes amounting to only a few inches ofdisplacement of the player's center of mass. Such movement legs arewithout fixed start and end positions, necessitating continual trackingof the player's position for meaningful assessment. The virtual opponentcan assume the role of either an offensive or defensive player.

United States Patent Publication No.: 2003/0142238 pertains to a methodand system for triggering, composing, and displaying presentations of alive event, such as a sporting event. Prior to the event, datacharacterizing a set of triggering events and data characterizing a setof layout rotations is stored. Each layout rotation includes one or morelayouts, and each of the layout rotations is associated with one of thetriggering events. During the live event, instances of the triggeringevents are detected, at which time the associated layout rotation isautomatically initiated.

United States Patent Publication No.: 2004/0162803 pertains to acomputer method and system that permits a single personal computersports software application program and its related user interface tostore, display, organize, analyze, output and otherwise manageinformation specific to any one of a number of different sports. Sportsdata is maintained within a sports season data entity (i.e., Season)that is comprised of, or references, games or similar season events andrelated information including game scores, rosters, player statistics,game notes, pictures and multimedia. Seasons are implemented in amodular form that enables the program to dynamically load the season'ssports data. Seasons also reference independent sport packages thatcontain statistic definitions or other information specific to a givensport. Using the information contained within the Season and associatedsport package, the program reconfigures its user interface, displayeddata, output, and other properties where necessary to accommodate anysport specific requirements.

United States Patent Publication No.: 2006/0003298 pertains to a systemand method for training a subject for control processes, preferably fora particular task. The task may optionally comprise a sport, such asbasketball for example; additionally or alternatively, the task maycomprise an area of skills to be improved, such as general improvementof physical reflexes and/or reactions. The present invention enablescognitive skills associated with the task to be improved, withoutrequiring physical fidelity to the physical actions that are normallyperformed during the actual task. Improving these cognitive skillsresults in improved control processes during performance of the actualtask by the subject.

United States Patent Publication No.: 2006/0281061 pertains to asimulation system for training athletes in cognitive skills includeshardware incorporating imaging and tracking devices, sound generator andreceiver, a projection screen, and a movie projector for creating avirtual environment that simulates the site specific to the sport. Thesystem includes software installed on a processor that is in signalcommunication and in controlling relation to the hardware elements. Thesystem inputs to the software a plurality of scenarios in which theathlete might find him/herself. The software acts to retrieve a scenarioand output a plurality of control signals for presenting a visual andaural simulation. A body parameter is tracked in temporal coordinationwith elements of the scenario. The tracked parameter is saved for laterreview by the user and, in some cases, training personnel. The scenarioevolves in response to the tracked parameter, and is thus interactive innature.

In United States Patent Publication No.: 2013/0330693, according tomethods for teaching high performance cognitive skills, a simulatedsports action scenario is displayed on a screen to a user, and the useris queried to respond to the scenario. The user's response to thescenario is received. The user's response to the scenario is evaluatedaccording to predetermine high performance cognitive skills criteria todetermine a sports relevant score. The determined sports relevant scoreis then displayed to the user and a database is updated.

United States Patent Publication No.: 2015/0024357 pertains to a presentdisclosure relates to a perceptual-cognitive-motor learning system. Thesystem includes an apparatus for evaluating or improvingperceptual-cognitive abilities of a subject during a training sequence.The system also has a training sequence controller for adding in atleast a part of the training sequence at least one of (a) a first motorload add-on to the subject and (b) a second motor load add-on to thesubject, the second motor load being heavier than the first motor load.A variant of the system has a user interface for allowing the subject tochange at least one parameter of the training sequence. Methods forevaluating or improving perceptual-cognitive abilities of a subject arealso disclosed.

International Patent Application No.: WO2015112646 pertains to a sportstraining system designed to provide an immersive simulation of at leastpart of a set of an opposing team in response to the actual actions of aplayer.

International Patent Application No.: WO2015089673 pertains to a systemand a method for determining a perceptual-cognitive signature of asubject. A plurality of objects moves at a controlled speed on a visualdisplay, for a predetermined duration in each of a series of coretrials. The subject identifies one or more target objects amongst theplurality of objects. The perceptual-cognitive signature of the subjectis determined according to the number of target objects, the speed ofthe objects, the predetermined duration of each of the series of coretrials, and a correctness of identifications, by the subject after eachpredetermined duration, of the target objects over the series of coretrials.

International Patent Application No.: WO2014146192 pertains toperceptual-cognitive-motor learning system. The system includes anapparatus for evaluating or improving perceptual-cognitive abilities ofa subject during a training sequence. The apparatus includes a displayconfigured to provide to the subject a visual contact with anenvironment. The system also has a training sequence controllerconfigured to consolidate results of first successive tests made using asingle spatial zone formed by the environment, segment the into aplurality of spatial zones, and consolidate results of second successivetests made using the plurality of spatial zones. Methods for evaluatingor improving perceptual-cognitive abilities of a subject are alsodisclosed.

International Patent Application No.: WO2004006747 pertains to systemand method for training a subject for control processes of a particulartask by analyzing a plurality of action to determine a plurality ofcognitive actions (100), designing a plurality of cognitive skills fortraining the subject in the task (102), determining a training strategyaccording to the plurality of cognitive skills (104), constructing atrainer for training the subject according to the training strategy(106), determining a training plan for training the subject (1070), andtesting and calibrating an operation of the trainer during interactionswith the subject (108).

European Patent No.: 2309365 pertains to a method and apparatus forproviding force feedback to a user operating a human/computer interfacedevice (14) and interacting with a computer-generated simulation (20).In one aspect, a computer implemented method simulates the interactionof simulated objects displayed to a user who controls one of thesimulated objects by manipulating a physical object (34) of an interfacedevice (14). The physical object provides force feedback to the userwhich imparts a physical sensation corresponding to the interaction ofthe computer simulated objects.

European Patent No.: 1554709 pertains to a system and method fortraining a subject for control processes of a particular task byanalyzing a plurality of action to determine a plurality of cognitiveactions (100), designing a plurality of cognitive skills for trainingthe subject in the task (102), determining a training strategy accordingto the plurality of cognitive skills (104), constructing a trainer fortraining the subject according to the training strategy (106),determining a training plan for training the subject (1070), and testingand calibrating an operation of the trainer during interactions with thesubject (108).

Japanese Patent Application No.: 2014509892 pertains to a simulatedsports action scenario is displayed on a screen to a user, and the useris queried to respond to the scenario. The user's response to thescenario is received. The user's response to the scenario is evaluatedaccording to predetermine high performance cognitive skills criteria todetermine a sports relevant score. The determined sports relevant scoreis then displayed to the user and a database is updated.

For the foregoing reasons, there is a need for a system and method thatenables athletes on sports teams to engage in effective preparationoutside of in-person practice such that all players on said team can beprepared for an upcoming competition, regardless of time constraintsimposed on in-person practice.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure provides a method and system to implement saidmethod that satisfies this need. Specifically, the present disclosureprovides for a method for providing a cognitive reinforcement system forat least one player on a sports team via a multi-tenant computerizedsystem. The method starts with first selecting, by one of the players, adrill from a list of pre-selected drills. Once the drill has beenselected, the system will find a drill session having a list ofinformation, where the drill session is associated with the selecteddrill and the player. Once the drill session has been found, the systemretrieves a plurality of components of the drill session based on thelist of information. Preferably, the list of information will contain aunique session ID, a drill type, a player position for the player, abaseline session flag, a level indicator corresponding to apredetermined amount of levels, and a count of how many times the playerhas performed the drill. After the system has retrieved the plurality ofcomponents, the system will assemble the drill session from saidcomponents, and then allows the player to start the drill session. Insome embodiments, the player is presented with a set of instructions ofhow to perform the drill.

Upon accessing the drill session, embodiments exist where the systemwill then select, via randomization, a drill animation to be used in thedrill session. This may be a true randomization or may be aweighted-randomization, where the randomization is weighted based on thelist of information mentioned above. The system then displays thisanimation to the user for a predetermined amount of time. Thispredetermined amount of time preferably corresponds to the levelindicator. The animation may be an animated or cartoon-like animation,or may be a video uploaded to the system. The video can also be realgame footage of an opponent. After the player has seen the drillanimation for the preselected amount of time, the system presents theplayer with a question pertaining to the drill animation to the player.The player then selects an answer to this question, and the systemsubsequently determines whether the answer is a correct response to thequestion. In some embodiments, the question is presented at the sametime that the drill animation is being played.

If the player selected the correct answer, embodiments of the methodexist where the system then records that a correct response wasselected. This event is then used by the system to calculate a runninggrade for the drill session and then the system saves the running grade,the player position, the drill type, the count, the correct response,and the selected answer. Once this information has been saved, thesystem checks if the running grade qualifies the player to enter adifferent level. If the running grade is high enough to meet apredetermined threshold, the system will raise the level indicatorassociated with the player, moving them to a higher level. If therunning grade is low enough to pass below a different predeterminedthreshold, the system will lower the level indicated associated with theplayer, moving them to a lower level. Preferably, the system will have anumber of levels a player can achieve, and the levels will correspond tothe likelihood that the player will successfully answer the correctquestion, demonstrating mastery of the drill. That is, the lower levelswill be of the lowest difficulty, while the higher levels will presentthe highest difficulty.

The present disclosure also contemplates an apparatus for providing acognitive reinforcement system for one or more players on a sports team.The apparatus includes a client-server computer system including aserver computer connected to a plurality of client computers over a widearea network. Preferably, the server computer system has a teamadministration module, a playbook module, a schedule keeping module, anda grading module all in electronic communication with each other. Insome embodiments, the team administration module creates and maintains ateam schedule as well as stores contact information and positioninformation for the one or more players, information about one or moreopponents, at least one essay, at least one quiz, and the team schedule.The grading module provides access to a running grade and a level of atleast one player. In some embodiments, the playbook module creates atleast one playbook, allows documents to be uploaded to the servercomputer, provides access to at least one playbook, and sets thepreferences for a team offense and a team defense. In one embodiment theschedule keeping module allows the player to participate in one or moredrills, and in another embodiment the schedule keeping module uploads ascouting report, views the scouting report, views and edits at least onevideo clip, and enters situational data and results data pertaining tothe at least one video clip. In a preferred embodiment, the teamadministration module includes a contact information submodule, aschedule management submodule, a drill settings submodule, an opponentsubmodule, and an offensive and defensive submodule. In anotherpreferred embodiment, the schedule keeping module includes a drillsimulator submodule and a video editor submodule. In yet anotherpreferred embodiment, the client computer provides access to the drillsimulator submodule and the video editor submodule, and allows a user toview a grade and level associated with one or more of the one or moreplayers.

In many embodiments, the drill simulator submodule is configured toimprove the cognition of the player in relation to one or more drillsrelated to one or more sports. Preferably, the drill simulator submodulecontinuously provides one or more drills for a player to perform withinthe system, increases the grade upon the player successfully performingthe drill, increases the level upon the player obtaining a predeterminedgrade for the current level, and establishes where the maximum levelthat can be achieved corresponds to the maximum likelihood that theplayer will successfully perform the drill. In another preferredembodiment, the drill simulator submodule continuously provides one ormore drills for a player to perform within the system, the drillsimulator submodule decreases the grade upon the player unsuccessfullyperforming the drill, the drill simulator submodule decreases the levelupon the player obtaining a predetermined grade for the current level,and establishes where the minimum level that can be achieved correspondsto the minimum likelihood that the player will successfully perform thedrill.

Preferably, the present invention will be distributed via the Internet,allowing athletes to perform drills anywhere where they can receive aninternet connection. Further, this increased access allows an athlete toengage in far more digital drill sessions in a short period of time whencompared with performing these drill sessions in-person. Moreover,because system and method according to the present disclosure isavailable year-round, the players will have the opportunity to sharpentheir skills in and out of season.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdescription and appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a diagram of an embodiment of the apparatus in accordancewith the present disclosure, showing the modules and submodules of theapparatus.

FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of an embodiment of the method in accordancewith the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of an alternative embodiment of the method inaccordance with the present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be describedwith reference to the drawings. Identical elements in the variousfigures are identified with the same reference numerals.

Reference will now be made in detail to each embodiment of the presentinvention. Such embodiments are provided by way of explanation of thepresent invention, which is not intended to be limited thereto. In fact,those of ordinary skill in the art may appreciate upon reading thepresent specification and viewing the present drawings that variousmodifications and variations can be made thereto.

While the disclosure refers to exemplary embodiments, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be madeand equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, manymodifications will be appreciated by those skilled in the art to adapt aparticular instrument, situation, or material to the teachings of thedisclosure without departing from the spirit thereof. Therefore, it isintended that the disclosure not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed.

There are two primary use cases for the system and method described bythe present disclosure. The first is for a coach of a sports team tomanage the team using the teachings contained herein, by having theplayers on the team utilize the system in accordance with the presentinvention over the course of a season while the coach monitors theplayers progress. The second is for a player to unilaterally use thesystem in accordance with the present disclosure, after the system hasbeen set up, so that the player may improve their skills entirely ontheir own.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system 100 in accordance with the presentdisclosure is shown. The first use case shall be described withreference to FIG. 1. Here, the system 100 includes four modules, a teamadministration module 102, a playbook module 104, a schedule keepingmodule 106, and a grading module 108. The team administration module 102has a contact information and positions submodule 102A, a schedulemanagement submodule 102B, a drill settings submodule 102C, an opponentssubmodule 102D, and an offensive and defensive systems submodule 102E.The schedule keeping module 106 has a drill simulator submodule 106A anda video editor submodule 106B.

Here, the team administration module 102 allows a coach to create,modify, and maintain a schedule containing, things such as all of thecompetitions for the upcoming and/or current season, the dates of thecompetitions, and the names of the opponents for each competition, whichoccurs in a schedule management submodule 102B. In one embodiment, thecoach can add additional upcoming competitions during the season, in theschedule management submodule 102B. This feature will be beneficial ifthe sports team qualifies for post-season competition, if the team hasto make up for a previously-canceled competition, or for any otherreason that the coach needs to enter dates outside of the sports team'scompetitive season. One reason for this would be if the coach wantedtheir athletes to participate in drills in a drill simulator submodule106A during the offseason to prepare for future competitions, andanother reason is for the athletes to get used to viewing and reactingto, a particular opponent, or a particular set of strategies,formations, and/or plays. These dates could serve as deadlines for theplayers to complete their drills by.

In many embodiments, the coach will be able to import information anddata, within the schedule keeping module 106 and/or a video editorsubmodule 106B, from one competition to another. In one example, thesports team is preparing for an upcoming opponent that has similar oridentical strategies, formations, and/or plays as a previous opponent.The coach, within the schedule keeping module 106 and the video editorsubmodule 106B, can view all of the video clips, “situational data,” and“results data” that was inputted, and simply associate that data withthe upcoming opponent. Another situation where this feature isbeneficial is when the sports team faces an opponent year-after-year andthe opponent does not change their strategy between years, allowing thecoach to avoid duplicative effort.

In one preferred embodiment, the team administration module 102, via anoffensive and defensive systems submodule 102E, a coach may viewliterature about popular offenses and defenses in sports. Preferably,the system will use generic language in reference to various strategies,formations, and plays so that that regional or linguistic differencesbetween what similar items are called do not meaningfully affect the useof the present invention. Preferably, a number of essays exist where theessays are tutorials written from the perspective of being in oppositionto that particular strategy. The essays also can include additionalinformation, such as what weaknesses the strategy has and how thatstrategy can be defeated. In one embodiment, the coach can assign aparticular article to the sports team. In another embodiment, thepresent invention will also administer quizzes about those essays at theend of the reading within the offensive and defensive systems submodule102E. Upon completion of the quiz, the athlete will receive a percentagegrade based on the number of correct answers out of the total number ofquestions provided. The coach and player will have access to thosegrades in the grading module 108 to observe how well they understood thestrategies in the article.

In one embodiment, the coach can also upload the team's playbook withinthe playbook module 104. In a separate embodiment, the coach can createa playbook within the present invention by selecting, labeling, andsubmitting strategies, formations, and plays within the playbook module104. While using the present invention, the coaches and athletes canview either playbook via the playbook module 104 at any time. In anotherseparate embodiment, the coach can create quizzes concerning theirplaybook.

In many embodiments of the present invention, a coach, using theplaybook module 104 or the schedule keeping module 106, is able to fillout a series of contingencies. That is, the coach enters his or herpreferences for the types of offensive strategies, formations, and/orplays to use against an opponent's defensive strategies, formations,and/or plays. The coach also enters his or her preferences for the typesof defensive strategies, formations, and/or plays to use against anopponent's offensive strategies, formations, and/or plays.

A coach can review game-film of at least one of the coach's upcomingopponents and can enter details about the opponent in the schedulekeeping module 106. Such details include the athletic prowess of theopponent's athletes, assorted weaknesses of the opponent, draw thestrategies, formations, and plays used, and record the frequency withwhich the opponent used different strategies, formations, and plays.

From the schedule keeping module 106, the coach can upload footage froma game that the opponent participated in into the video editor submodule106B. Within the video editor submodule 106B, the original game footagecan be divided into many individual video clips by the coach to show atleast one strategy, formation, and/or play per edited video clip. Whilestill in the video editor submodule 106B, the coach can then input“situational data” for each video clip. In the present disclosure,“situation data” is any data that can be found and/or recorded prior tothe start of the opponent's strategy and/or play. This includesindicating who is on offense or defense, the down and distance, theinitial setup or formation that is used, the location of the ball, andthe score of the game in that specific video clip. The coach can alsoinput “results data” for each video clip, which here means any dataconcerning what is happening during, or is the end result of, thestrategy and/or play. This includes what strategy and/or play was used,how many yards were gained or lost, if the pass was completed orintercepted, and if any points or goals were scored. Both coaches andathletes can enter the video editor submodule 106B at any time and viewthe video clips as well as the “situational data” and “results data”that are associated with each video clip. In addition, the video editorsubmodule 106B has a graphical interface for controlling the playing ofthe selected video clip, including features such as play, stop,slow-motion forward, slow-motion backward, skip to next video clip, andskip to previous video clip.

The information that is inputted can be used to find the certaintendencies that the upcoming opponent has in regards to certain items,like the opponent's use of certain offensive strategies, formations,and/or plays; use of certain defensive strategies, formations, and/orplays; the frequency of each; the effectiveness of each; and wherecertain strategies and plays are intended to go; among others. Inaddition, the coach could include notes and graphic aids that can beviewed by the other coaches and athletes, or, in one embodiment, bedesignated to only be viewed by specific coaches and/or athletes.

In the schedule keeping module 106, a coach can select all of thedifferent strategies, formations, and plays that the upcoming opponentwill be using. The coach can also label the selected strategies,formations, and plays. These configurations allow the system topre-select the images to be used in the drill simulator submodule 106A.In many embodiments, the present invention is configured to adjust theopponent's strategies, formations, and plays with that of the coach'sown team's strategies, formations, and plays similar to what is observedand practiced in a practice or in the actual competition. In manyembodiments, during the selection and labeling process in the schedulekeeping module 106, the coach will be able to view the names of thestrategies, formations and plays that have already been selected and howmany times those strategies, formations and plays have been selected bythat coach.

In one embodiment, the coach will notify the athletes via the contactinformation and positions submodule 102A to log into the drill simulatorsubmodule 106A to obtain a baseline assessment for the athletes. To dothis, the coach will click a button in the schedule keeping module 106that will send an email and/or text to all of the athletes, notifyingthem that the coach has completed inputting the data, and that it is nowtime for the athletes to start performing the drills in the drillsimulator. The email or text will be sent from the present inventionusing contact information entered into the contact information andpositions submodule 102A by the coach prior to the season.

The purpose of the baseline assessment is to determine what the athletesalready know about the upcoming opponent prior to the coach teachingthem.

There exist many embodiments of the baseline assessment feature withinthe schedule keeping module 106. When the drill simulator submodule 106Adetects that a player is performing a drill for the first time inpreparation for a specific upcoming opponent, it will initiate abaseline assessment, meaning it will set the level of difficulty forthat drill to the default (baseline) level for that athlete. During thebaseline assessment, which is used to create the default level for theathlete, the athlete will go through a predetermined amount ofiterations of the drill. If the athlete achieves or exceeds apredetermined grade during the baseline assessment, the athlete willeither continue performing the drill at the same level of difficulty asthe baseline or advance to a higher level. If that athlete does notachieve a predetermined grade during the baseline assessment, he will beplaced at a lower level of difficulty than the level used in baseline.If an athlete does not perform certain drills during the period when thebaseline is available, the athlete will automatically be placed at apredetermined level for those drills. The baseline for all of the drillswill reset for the athlete after the competition, in preparation for thenext upcoming opponent.

In addition to the “situational data” and “results data” of the videoclips that are input, the coach can provide questions and the answersfor those questions within the video editor submodule 106B that would beused in the identification (“ID”) drills that utilize video clips. Inanother embodiment, the present invention can have default questions,and answers to these questions can be generated based on the analysisand tendencies found of the upcoming opponent within the presentinvention.

In a preferred embodiment, the coach will have the ability to applyadditional editing tools to each video clip in the video editorsubmodule 106B in order for those video clips to be better utilized inthe drill simulator submodule 106A. Preferably, the coach will have useof two markers that will be placed within the time frame of the videoclip: a “Start Marker” and an “End Marker.” The “Start Marker” will beplaced on the frame in the video clip where the opponent's strategy orplay begins. The coach will then place an “End Marker” on the frame inthe video clip where the opponent's strategy or play is fully developedand would be obvious to the viewer. For example, for American football,the coach could place the “Start Marker” on the frame when the footballis initially being snapped to the quarterback. The coach will then placethe “End Marker” on the frame when the ball carrier crosses the line ofscrimmage after the linemen have executed their blocks, leaving out theend portion of the original video clip. Athletes that are participatingin a drill within the drill simulator submodule 106A that focuses onitems before the start of the strategy or play (i.e. identifying theformation), will view the portion of the video clip that begins with itsoriginal beginning (i.e. viewing the opponent getting into theirformation) to where the “Start Marker” is (i.e. the moment before thestrategy or play starts). Athletes that are participating in a drillwithin the drill simulator submodule 106A that focuses on items afterthe start of the strategy or play (i.e. identifying the strategy orplay), will view the portion of the video clip that begins with itsoriginal beginning to where the “End Marker” is (i.e. the moment thestrategy or play fully developed and obvious).

The feature of editing and inputting data for the video clips by thecoach within the video editor submodule 106B posed a uniquely difficulttechnical problem to solve. For example, with the recent historic lossof browser support of Flash on modern day web devices, only morelimiting web technologies now exist to render live video and to allow auser to manipulate the video clips. These current technologies have lesspower than Flash, and require the system developer to create the logicthat normally would be otherwise effected by Flash or a video editingsoftware tool. A unique solution using technologies like SVG, HTML5video, and open source javascript video libraries was developed to crop,edit and label the video, although it is not the only configuration thatwill work.

In another embodiment, in the schedule keeping module 106 the coach mayselect, label, and submit a specific strategy, formation and/or playcombination once, then separately enter the number of times the coachsaw that specific combination on game-film and at the games he attended.The quantity for each combination will be weighed against the othercombinations so that the combinations seen most by the coach from thegames will be viewed the most by the players within the drill simulatorsubmodule 106A. That is, the more a coach views a combination, the moreheavily it will be weighted. The coach may also enter the same quantityfor every combination so that every combination will be viewed the samenumber of times by the time of the competition.

In many embodiments, along with the labeling of strategies, formationsand/or plays, the coach can also input “situational data” for a selectedcombination within the schedule keeping module 106. In one non-limitingexample, the coach could provide how much time was left on the gameclock when a given combination occurred. In another example, the coachcould indicate what inning the selection occurred. In a third example,they could indicate how many points the opponent was ahead or behind bywhen the selected combination was used. In a fourth example, the coachcould put in what the down and distance was when that selectedcombination occurred. In a fifth example, they could also indicate whathashmark and yardline the opponent was on when they used the selectedcombination. In some embodiments, the information provided can bedisplayed in the drills within the drill simulator submodule 106A beforeshowing the animation or video clip, but after viewing the instructionalpage on the website. In other embodiments, that information can bedisplayed during the animation or video clip.

In a preferred embodiment, regarding drills utilizing video clips, the“situational data” will already be available to be utilized in thedrills within the drill simulator submodule 106A from when the coachentered the video editor submodule 106B and input the “situational data”along with the “results data”. In many embodiments, the coach will beable to input the “situational data” at a later time within the videoeditor submodule 106B. Overall, the information would foster greaterunderstanding of when certain combinations may occur within thecompetition, narrow down the number of possible strategies, formations,and/or plays to expect in a given situation, enable the athletes toreact and execute their assignments more quickly, and improve theirsituational awareness.

In many embodiments, during the selection and labeling process withinthe schedule keeping module 106, the coach can input informationconcerning audibles to certain combinations where it may be moreadvantageous to use than the originally selected strategy, formationand/or play combination. This would be done in order to see if anathlete can view a situation on the field or court, and change thestrategy, formation, and/or play combination to something that would bemore advantageous against what the opponent is planning on doing. Theinformation that was inputted by the coach would be one of the answersavailable to the athlete during the drills. In many embodiments, fordrills involving audibles that utilize video clips, the coach will inputthe correct audible while in the video editor submodule 106B. An athletewill be able to express their knowledge and execution of making audiblesin any of the drills described in the drill simulator submodule 106A.

In one embodiment, the scouting report can be an uploaded documentwithin the schedule keeping module 106. In a separate embodiment, thescouting report can also be created and auto-generated from the coach'sprevious selections and labeling of the opponent's different strategies,formations and/or plays from when the original selections and labelsoccurred and the data was inputted within the schedule keeping module106, as well as from the analysis of and tendencies found from the“situational data” and “results data” that were inputted for the videoclips in the video editor submodule 106B. All of that inputtedinformation will fill in the scouting report templates found within theschedule keeping module 106. In another separate embodiment, the coachcan also fill in the scouting report templates manually within thepresent invention. In another separate embodiment, the coach can createquizzes concerning a scouting report.

In one set of embodiments, the coach, while in the schedule keepingmodule, will be able to select, label, and submit the strategies,formations, and/or plays that are just similar to each other, but notdirectly related to a specific opponent. In another embodiment, thecoach will also be able to select separate, individual video clips thatcontain similar strategies, formations, and/or plays from one or moregame-films of one or more opponents, in the video editor submodule 106B,to be utilized as their own group in drills within the drill simulatorsubmodule 106A, as opposed to utilizing video clips that are derivedfrom one specific opponent. As an example, a basketball coach who sawthat the team faced and had a lot of trouble playing against a number ofteams that primarily used “motion offenses” last season, could select awide variety of “motion offenses” in the schedule keeping module 106and/or in the video editor submodule 106B. This could occur during theoff-season and/or the pre-season, so the athletes would get experiencein viewing and reacting to that type of offense in the drills within thedrill simulator submodule 106A. As such, the coach will see which of theathletes are improving before the season begins, which of the athletesneed additional help, and what strategies, formations, and plays theteam could be using to be successful when facing teams that use “motionoffenses” in at least some portion of the game.

In many embodiments, during the selection and labeling process, thecoach can select a pre-packaged group of strategies, formations, and/orplays that are similar in style and structure within the schedulekeeping module 106. The purpose of this is to speed up the process fromselecting and labeling one item at a time to selecting a group of itemsat once. This is especially helpful when facing a team that specializesin one set of strategies, formations, and/or plays that are similar instyle and structure. After selecting a pre-packaged group, the coachcould add to, delete portions of, change, or modify that group to bemore opponent-specific or to narrow or expand what the athletes need toview and experience in the drill simulator submodule 106A.

In one set of embodiments, during the selecting and labeling processwithin the schedule keeping module 106, the coach can label thestrategies, formations, and plays in more generic terms as opposed tothe specific names that they are typically given. The athletes, in turn,would provide those same generic terms as answers when viewing thecorresponding animations in the drills within the drill simulatorsubmodule 106A. For example, in American football, each formation andplay has its own name, but each formation and play will fall under acertain category or group. For example, the traditional ISO, Power, andZone plays out of the I Formation are very different when it comes tohow the linemen block, where the fullback goes, and where the hole isfor the halfback (or tailback) to run through and gain yards. However,they are all the same type of play. They are all “run” plays. Dependingon the coach, they may want the athletes to have the ability to identifythat the type of play they are viewing and reacting to is a “run” or“run play” rather than knowing the specific name of the play. Whenselecting the ISO, Power, and Zone plays, the coach can label each ofthem as “run” or “run play,” and the athlete who views thesecorresponding animations will be able to provide the answer of “run” or“run play” after viewing them. In a separate embodiment, the athletewill also be able to provide a response to express how he would reactafter identifying that the play being viewed is a “run” or “run play.”

In one embodiment, the coach could be able to perform against a sampleset of reps of a specific drill at a specific position in the drillsimulator submodule 106A. The purpose of this would be for the coach to“test out” a drill so the coach and the athlete will be on the same pagewhen discussing what to look for in the animation or video clip.

In one embodiment, the coach will be able to create the upcomingopponent's strategies, formations, and plays within the schedule keepingmodule 106. These coach-made items will generate newly configuredanimations that can be selected, labeled, and submitted in the schedulekeeping module 106 so that the athletes will view and respond to thoseitems in the drills within the drill simulator submodule 106A. In oneembodiment, the coach can disable some or all of the drills that utilizeanimations. In another embodiment, the coach can disable some or all ofthe drills that utilize video clips.

In another set of embodiments, the coach could enter the teamadministration module 106 and set the drills that utilize video clips inthe drill simulator submodule 106A to only accept generic terms as theanswers, with the generic terms being derived from the “situationaldata” and/or “results data” within the video editor submodule 106B thatwas entered by the coach. The coach could also name the strategy,formation, and/or play in each video clip with a generic term as opposedto a specific name within the video editor submodule 106B, which willthen be the answers to those video clips in the drills within the drillsimulator submodule 106A. Other more generic terms include: pass,bootleg, motion, zone, sprint, blitz, pass action, pop up, bunt, strike,ball, cross, screen, pick and roll, man-to-man, and shift, among others.

Later, the coach will review the grades and levels of difficulty earnedfrom the athletes' baseline assessment in the grading module 108. Basedon what the grades and levels are, the coach may make modifications tohow he will introduce the upcoming opponent to the athletes and gothrough what strategies, formations, and plays the opponent uses duringthe first practice.

After the first practice, the coach will instruct the athletes toutilize the present invention again. This will include the athletescontinuing to participate in the drills within the drill simulationsubmodule 106A that are assigned to them, but may also include, in oneembodiment, reviewing a scouting report about the upcoming opponent thatwas made by the coach and found within the schedule keeping module 106prior to participating in those drills. After the athletes havecompleted their drills, the coach will then look at the grades andlevels within the grading module 108 that reflect the athletes'performance on those drills after the first practice. This informationwill be used to assist in creating the practice schedule for the secondpractice as well as assist the coaches on what to look for and possiblyaddress during that practice. After the second practice, the athleteswill be instructed to utilize the present invention, again. Thisroutine, done on a daily basis, will help the athletes learn about,identify, and respond to the strategies, formations, and plays of theupcoming opponent up until the actual competition.

In many embodiments, the grades and levels are also made accessible tothe coach by the grading module 108. This will inform the coach to whatthe athletes are doing well in or having trouble with. This will alsoassist the coach in developing a practice schedule for the next day thatwill address issues that the athletes currently have. The grades can bedisplayed to the coach in a number of ways, including, but not limitedto: a line graph of a single athlete's grades that will show how well hehas performed in the drills over the course of a day, a week, a month, aseason, or a year, a line graph that displays a number of athletes'grades on a particular drill to compare their progressions over thecourse of time, or a display where the coach can view and compare theathlete's grades by sorting the athletes' latest grades in a particulardrill in ascending or descending order, by the most recent submissions,or by the oldest submissions. Alternatively, the line graph can belimited to a particular level of difficulty, thus providing a coach withmore specific per level information on the athlete's performance. Thecoach can also observe a series of per level line graphs arrangedsequentially from the lowest level and highest level performed by theathlete.

After viewing the athletes' grades and levels in the grading module 108and creating that day's practice schedule, any given coach is now ableto go to the following practice and coach their athletes with the gradesand levels in mind, addressing areas of concern, when possible. Afterthe practice is over, the athletes will go back to the drill simulatorsubmodule 106A of the present invention, and do their assigned drillsagain. Afterwards, the coaches will look up the new grades and levels,individually or collectively, on a display or on one or more linegraphs, to see what changes have been made from one day to the next. Thecoach will then use the results to gauge how well the individualathletes, as well as the team, are doing in grasping their ownstrategies, formations, and plays; their opponents' strategies,formations, and plays; and will help determine how to structure the nextday's practice to address new or similar concerns. This process of usingthe present invention and addressing key issues and concerns maycontinue each day up to and including the day of competition. In anumber of embodiments, the present invention will also provide coacheswith troubleshooting flowcharts that are found in the grading module108, to help identify the possible underlying causes for why theathletes are not doing well on certain drills which would furtherimprove the coach's ability to teach the athletes. In anotherembodiment, the present invention can provide specified recommendations,based on those from the flowcharts, to the coach concerning a specificathlete, if that athlete is not progressing in the drills.

In addition to grades, levels, displays, and graphs, the coach can alsoview other statistics in regards to athlete usage, including, but notlimited to, the number of times an athlete clicks on the “Review”button, on what animations or clips he is giving incorrect responses,the number of reps performed in each drill, the number of sessionsperformed over a specific time period, the average number of reps persession, etc. This embodiment, found in the grading module 108, willprovide the coach with insight into how the present invention is beingused by the athletes, and can make key decisions based on that insight.

In one embodiment, the present invention may be used any time of theyear, including, but not limited to: during the season, the pre-season,the post-season, the off-season, and other portions of that respectivesport's yearly calendar. The purpose of this is to provide opportunitiesof learning for the athlete throughout the year.

Within the present invention, two teams in the same sport will be ableto exchange an entire game-film, or all of the video clips from thatgame-film, with each other. For example, Team A will give one of theirown game-films to Team B, and Team B will give one of their owngame-films to Team A in the team administration module 102. Then, eachteam will enter “situational data” and “results data” for each videoclip in the newly exchanged game-film as part of their preparation forthe competition against each other. In one embodiment, a team can obtainthe “situational data” and “results data” for each video clip of agame-film of another team, if the data was entered by a separate team.For example, Team A and Team B make an exchange, and each enters thedata into video clips of the newly exchanged game-film. Teams A and Buse the data to prepare for the competition between each other. Afterthat competition, Team A makes an exchange with Team C, and Team Crequests the same game-film that Team B got from Team A. When Team Cgets that game-film, it will include the data that Team B previouslyentered into that game-film. The purpose of this is to reduce the amountof time required to gather information about an opponent when utilizinggame-film and video clips.

In another embodiment, the players will also be able to view a“Leaderboard,” which will compare their respective performances on thedrills with those of other players on his team, in his conference,region, state, or country.

In a separate implementation of the present invention, there will be anindividual user version. In this version, the individual user is notconnected or related to a team, but is a single player that wants toimprove his own cognitive abilities in relation to his sport. Theindividual user could be an athlete that (1) had never played in a sportbefore and wants to get an idea of what is expected while participatingin the sport, (2) just moved into the area and wants to prepare for howthe new team and its opponents will perform, (3) had not received muchtime on the field or court in the previous season, and wants to improvethe chances of participating in the competitions for the upcomingseason, or (4) would want to improve their abilities during the seasonand would use this specific implementation of the present invention as acomplement to, but separate from, the learning activities that theyparticipate in with the team.

In one preferred embodiment, the individual user will initially setuptheir individual account through the administration module that includesaddressing certain parameters, including entering name and contactinformation, determining how long each “practice week” is (for example,7 days, 2 weeks, etc.), how many “practice weeks” there will be,inputting what the primary positions will be on offense and defense,what drills they would want to participate in, enter the names of the“opponents” that they will be facing in the future, among others. Eachof the parameters mentioned above, as well as those not specificallymentioned, will have a default that can be changed initially and canalso be changed or modified by the user at any time.

After the initial setup, the user can enter the present invention toparticipate in the drill sessions. In another preferred embodiment, theuser will enter the playbook module 104 and select and label thespecific plays, or select a pre-packaged set of plays that the virtual“team” will execute within the animations during the drills. In aseparate preferred embodiment, the user will enter the schedule keepingmodule 106 to select and label specific strategies, formations, andplays that they will be facing in the drills, or can select apre-packaged set of strategies, formations, and plays. In anotherpreferred embodiment, the drills that they would participate in are thesame types and functions as previously described. In one embodiment, allof the answers that the user expresses will be recorded and graded. Theywill be able to view their grades for a particular drill whileparticipating in that same drills well as view all of their grades inthe grade module 108. In a preferred embodiment, all of the drills willhave levels of difficulty that were previously described. In anotherembodiment, the user can view a “Leaderboard” that will compare thisperformance in the drills with those of other users, and the“Leaderboard” can display these performances, by conference, region,state, or country in relation to the individual user.

Referring to FIG. 2, a flow chart of an embodiment of the method inaccordance with the present disclosure is shown.

When the athlete selects a specific drill from the drill simulator instep 202, whether during or after the baseline assessment, they mayfirst see an instructions page that outlines what will happen and howthe athlete will respond. This instructions page also has a link to aninteractive video tutorial that provides a visual walkthrough of thatdrill with text to explain what the animation includes and what the useris able to do during the animation or video clip. From the instructionspage, a subset of drill animation or video clip configurations ispreloaded in the single page throughout steps 204-208, where the systemfinds a drill session having a list of information, where the drillsession is associated with that team member in step 204, where thesystem retrieves the plurality of components that make up the drillsession in step 206, and where the system assembles those components inthe aforementioned single page. This ensures that after the start of thedrill, every repetition is not delayed by this step. Further, thissubset of drill animations or video clips selected for the athlete isdetermined by taking the team's drill configuration for the selectedgame, matching it with a list of information such as the team member'sposition, baseline session flag, level indicator, and count of how manytimes the team member has performed the drill. A baseline session flagwill allow the system to determine whether a baseline session is beingrun, as opposed to a standard session. The position is determined forthe specific drill to be the athlete's offensive position or defensiveposition depending on the offensive or defensive nature of the drill,allowing a single team member to hold multiple roster spots, as iscommon in high school sports. In this case, the athlete is able toselect one of the available positions when engaging to start the drill.After the page has been assembled, the player is allowed to engage inthe drill in step 210.

In some embodiments, team members can only view the strategies,formations, and plays that were previously selected and labeled by thecoach. For example, if the team member is a quarterback, he will onlyhave access to drills and animations that have to do with being thequarterback.

Referring to FIG. 3, a flow chart showing an alternative embodiment of amethod in accordance with the present disclosure is shown. Here, in step302, the system selects a drill animation at random. In manyembodiments, video clips will also be utilized in the drills as thedrill animation. In some of those embodiments, the video clips will bespecific to an athlete's position. The coach specifies which positionsreceive and view which video clips while in the video editor submodule.In other embodiments, video clips will be utilized in the drills, butall of the positions will view the same video clips without additionalsteps or actions needed to be taken by the coach. Both sets ofembodiments are contingent and dependent on the filming capacity of theteam doing the filming of the game. In addition to live game footage,cartoon-like or computer-generated images may be used.

In step 304, the drill animation is shown to the player for apredetermined amount of time. There are two types of exemplary drillsthat are utilized: ID drills and action drills. In a preferredembodiment, identification drills are when the player views an animationwith virtual athletes on the screen that are doing something thatreplicates what a coach expects that the upcoming opponent will do. Theidentification drill may also consist of viewing an edited video clipcontaining actual game footage of the upcoming opponent participating ina previous competition. While or after viewing the animation or videoclip, in step 306 the player is asked to identify and/or answerquestions concerning what he viewed based on the corresponding diagramthe coach selected and/or on what it was labeled as by the coachpreviously, and/or any other questions and answers created and added bythe coach. In many embodiments, this type of drill can ask for the userto identify, respond to, and/or provide responses for up to 10 thingsfrom a single animation or video clip. The possible answer choices forthe questions that are asked of the athletes are provided by thelabeling and information entered by the coach when originally preparingfor the upcoming opponent in the schedule keeping module, as describedin step 308. For example, at the end of the animation or video clip, theathlete may need to identify the strategy, formation, and/or play thatthey viewed; identify what the center did on the play; or identify whatthe best passing option was for that particular strategy or play. Insome embodiments, the answers and answer choices will be in word form.In other embodiments, the answers and answer choices will be in the formof diagrams.

There are a number of embodiments specifically concerning the animationsin the ID drills. Some animations will have no movement while otheranimations will have at least one of the virtual athletes moving,showing the development of a number of specific strategies and/or plays.For example, if the user is on special teams in football, they will seeand participate in drills pertaining to kick-off formations, kick-offplays, punt formations, among many others. For another example, if theuser is a quarterback, he might engage in a pre-snap defense ID drill.In this instance, the pre-snap defense ID drill can have a number ofembodiments. The first has none of the virtual athletes moving. Thiswill train the quarterback to recognize a defensive formation and/orplay without any virtual athletes moving. Alternatively, the drill mayhave members of the secondary move to provide the quarterback with someidea of what the defensive play is. The drill may also have all of thedefensive athletes move, allowing a quarterback to have more clues as towhat the defensive play is and how best to exploit it. For an outfielderplaying in left field in baseball, he may see a batter hit the ball intoright field. Based on how many runners there are and which bases theyare on before the pitch, the outfielder will need to identify where theball will end up and indicate where he needs to be during the play. Inone embodiment, the coach will select a paused video clip, and have apicture of the video clip taken at the appropriate frame, to be used inplace of a video clip being played during the drill. In anotherembodiment the video clip will be allowed to play through in itsentirety.

Actions drills are the second set of exemplary drills used in thepresent disclosure. These are drills where the athlete will have torespond or react to the virtual athletes in an animation before the endof the animation, or respond or react to actual athletes in a video clipbefore the end of the video clip. In some embodiments, the athlete canprovide a response after the end of the animation or video clip. Theanswer to this type of drill corresponds to a reaction the user wouldhave during a competition, such as moving in a certain direction,accomplishing a certain task during a strategy, or identifying aspecific virtual player and indicating where they are going. Forexample, if the user is a defensive football player, and in ananimation, they see the offensive virtual player on the screen with afootball going to the right, the user needs to indicate what directionthey should move in in order to tackle the offensive player.Alternatively, the same user views an offensive play developing in avideo clip and recognizes the play is designed for the ball-carrier togo to the right. In either example, in a preferred embodiment, the userwill indicate through pressing a key on a keyboard, clicking a mouse ona portion of a computer screen, tapping a portion of a cellphone orsmartphone touchscreen, or moving while connected to a motion-detectiondevice that the user wants to go to the right. All of the drills are acombination of what the opponent may do during the competition, as wellas what the athletes are supposed to do while in their own formations,all while executing their own strategies and plays against theirupcoming opponent.

In a preferred embodiment, video clips will also be utilized in theidentifications drills and action drills as well as the “situationaldata” and “results data” for each video clip that was entered by thecoach in the video editor. In a preferred embodiment, the “situationaldata” and “results data” for each of the video clips serve as theanswers for those video clips when they are utilized in the drillswithin the drill simulator where specific data is relevant to a specificdrill. For example, a coach inputs “situational data” for video clip Athat includes labeling the formation as “I Formation Right,” and alsoinputs “results data” for video clip A that includes labeling the playas “Toss Right,” and the direction of the play as going to the “Right.”Subsequently, the athlete views video clip A during an identificationdrill within the drill simulator. If the present invention asks toidentify the formation, the athlete will answer with “I FormationRight.” If the present invention asks to identify the play, the athletewill answer with “Toss Right.” If the present invention asks to identifythe direction of the play, the athlete will answer with “Right.” In anaction drill within the drill simulator, the athlete will be successfulwhen viewing video clip A by indicating the direction in which the playis going, or where they need to go in reaction to the play. In eithercase, the response could be “Right.”

In one embodiment, whether participating in an ID drill or in an actiondrill, after an athlete submits an answer or response within the drillsimulator, the system of the present invention will inform the user iftheir selection was correct or incorrect in step 310. If incorrect, thepresent invention will display the correct answer. If the answer iscorrect, the system records the correct answer in step 312. In anotherseparate embodiment, all of the answers will be collected for each drilland given a percentage grade based on how many were correct out of thetotal number of questions or responses. In many embodiments, the athletewill be able to see the grade and what level of difficulty they arecurrently on while participating in the drill within the drillsimulator, and in the grading module after they are finished with thedrill.

The present invention has many embodiments when it comes to theconnection between levels of difficulty and the drills that use theanimations and video clips. In one set of embodiments, the level ofdifficulty the athlete is currently on determines the play speed of theanimation or video clip in the drill. In one example, Level 0 would bethe easiest for the athletes to respond correctly to. At this level,each animation or video clip will be slower than the speed of movementthat would be seen in competition to allow the athletes the time tofigure out what they are viewing, and how to respond to it correctly. Ifsome of the athletes show a high proficiency at Level 0, the presentinvention will advance those athletes to Level 1. At Level 1, theanimations or video clips will be going faster than Level 0, but stillnot at the speed of movement seen in competition. If some of theathletes show a high proficiency at Level 1, the present invention willadvance those athletes to Level 2. At Level 2, the animations or videoclips will be going as fast as competition. If some of the athletes showa high proficiency at Level 2, the present invention will advance thoseathletes to Level 3. At Level 3, the animations or video clips will begoing faster than the speed of movement seen in competition. If some ofthe athletes show a high proficiency at Level 3, the present inventionwill advance those athletes to Level 4. At Level 4, the animations orvideo clips will be going much faster than the speed of movement seen incompetition.

In a separate set of embodiments involving levels of difficulty, as anathlete advances in the level of difficulty, the animation or video cliputilized within the drill simulator will be incrementally trimmed,starting from the end, going backwards. For example, in Americanfootball, Level 0 shows an animation or video clip up until the ballcarrier crosses the line of scrimmage, and the total length of time ofthe animation or video clip is 9 seconds. At Level 1, the last 0.5seconds of the animation or video clip is taken away, leaving 8.5seconds of the animation or video clip to be shown, and ending beforethe ball carrier reaches the line of scrimmage. At Level 2, the last 1second of the animation or video clip is taken away, leaving 8 secondsof the animation or video clip to be shown, and ending with the ballcarrier further away from the line of scrimmage. At Level 3, the last1.5 seconds of the animation or video clip is taken away, leaving 7.5seconds of the animation or video clip to be shown, and ending with theball carrier even further away from the line of scrimmage. At Level 4,the last 2 seconds of the animation or video clip is taken away, leaving7 seconds of the animation or video clip to be shown, and ending withthe ball carrier even more further away from the line of scrimmage.

The reduction of the viewable animation or video clip that occurs whenan athlete advances in difficulty is made by the present invention. Thepresent invention can determine how much time is taken from the end ofthe animation or video clip based on an algorithm that includes thetotal length of the animation or clip and the level that the athlete iscurrently at. In summary, the drills using animations or video clips maybe displayed faster (e.g. a video on 1.5× speed) or may have time loppedoff the end as a user progresses through the various levels. Inadditional embodiments, the levels of difficulty may include addingsensory distractions, altering how the animation or game-film clip isviewed, the mobile device used during the drill vibrating, or theaddition of related and unrelated sounds or noises.

Regardless of the type of difficulty used and their correspondinglevels, in some embodiments, the entirety of the strategy or play can beshown. In other embodiments, only a certain portion of the strategy orplay is shown. The reason for why the levels of difficulty change thetiming of the animations and video clips is because in a competition,the athletes will only have a certain amount of time from the start ofthe strategy or play to view, process, identify, and react to itcorrectly. In stressing this mental process, the athletes are forced toprocess the applicable information more quickly in order to besuccessful. In one embodiment, the athlete will have a predeterminedamount of time to provide responses after viewing the animation or videoclip. If the athlete is not able to provide responses to some portionsof the drill in the predetermined amount of time, those nonresponseswill be registered as incorrect answers.

In a highly preferred embodiment, as shown in step 314, the system willcalculate a running grade for the team player as each iteration of thedrill is performed. This information is saved in step 316. Successfullyanswering questions will raise this running grade while incorrectlyanswering questions will lower this grade. Each level has a thresholdwhere a running grade of a certain amount will cause the team member toincrease in level, which is determined in step 318. The highest levelshould reflect the maximum likelihood that the player will answer thequestion correctly. Note that this is not a true statistic maximum(i.e., 100%) but a maximum capable based on the characteristics of theplayer. It should be noted that a minimum threshold exists where if aplayer obtains a running grade below that threshold, the player will gettheir level indicator lowered to reflect them being in a lower level.

In a preferred embodiment, all animations viewed in the drill simulatorare viewed from an eye-level, first-person point-of-view at each andevery athlete's position on the field or court. In some embodiments, thepresent invention emulates 3-dimensional (“3D”) movement using fading,moving, and scaling effects of images against a background playing fieldto achieve 3D-like animations from any player position. The animationswere developed by taking pictures of several fields and courts ateye-level, as well as at other heights, from a number of differentpositions on the fields and courts. Those pictures were then digitallyannotated, and then the annotated image was transferred into the systemof the present invention. Mathematical derivations and empirical data ofsport specific fields and courts were used to achieve correct scalingfor athletes at different distances away from viewpoint. In otherembodiments, the animations are displayed in 3D (i.e., not emulated).The animations can be generated by creating a digital representation ofa particular field or court and virtual players, importing theillustration into an external video processing program, and thenrecording the movements of animated players from a number of viewpoints.

The 2-dimensional (“2D”) animation itself is rendered in the limitationsof the web technologies of the current time, to effect a 3D likerepresentation of drills; however, the system has the right to employfuture technologies to effect the spirit of the system's animations.Preferably, the system employs technologies such as CSS 3.0 and HTML5,which enable both web and mobile applications to appear 3-dimensionalwhile displayed in a 2-dimensional plane, with transitions of changingproperties of an image like position, opacity, zoom level, and size. Thedrills are displayed by each player viewing an image itself superimposedon a background image. The system moves players behind and in front ofeach other in one movement. The system changes the player images in sizeto make it appear as if they are moving away and closer. The system alsoremoves player images and adds other player images to make the effect ofplayers moving their body shape and maneuvering.

The 3D animations will be rendered by current technologies of its timeand may evolve as technology changes, but to still be in the spirit ofthe invention. In the current technology, the 3D animations may beimplemented by using a 3D software and generating a video file that issupported by the web browsers, e.g., mpg. 3D software that generallyutilize complex computations to derive the angle of the objects. Anotherapproach could be that a separate process generates the 3D video filesfrom scratch, in order to optimize 3D rendering for athletic animations.

In one embodiment, the selection, labeling, submission of specificstrategy, and formation and/or play combinations (offensively,defensively, or in combination) in the schedule keeping module will berecorded and tallied by the present invention. If a specific strategy,formation and/or play combination is submitted again, the presentinvention will recognize the second submission. Preferably, the numberof occurrences of the selecting, labeling, and submitting of thedifferent combinations will correlate with the number of times the coachobserves those combinations in game-film or at attended games. At theend of this process, the total number of submissions for each differentsubmitted strategy, formation and/or play combination will be weighedagainst each other when the present invention selects a combination, atrandom, to be viewed by the athlete during a drill within the drillsimulator. For example, if combination A is submitted five times by thecoach and combination B is only selected once, the probability of anathlete viewing, reacting, and responding to combination A in a drill isfive times more likely than combination B. This weighted randomizationwill give an athlete the experience of interacting more often with theopponent's primary plays than plays that are used more sparingly. Thiswill provide the athlete with a better competition-like experience.Information regarding the number of times that a combination isselected, labeled, and submitted will be available to the coach.

In many embodiments, a 3-D environment will be utilized in the drills,within the drill simulator, in place of using animations. The user (theathlete) will be able to freely move within the 3-D environment as aplayer from a first-person, eye-level view before and/or after the playstarts: starting where they typically would be at their position andending at the spot where he should be in order to help the team becomesuccessful in that scenario. In soccer, the designated spot at the endof the drill could be where the athlete needs to get to in order to getthe ball on a pass from a teammate, or to be in the position to block ashot that may go into the goal if that user was the goalie. In lacrosse,basketball, and hockey, the designated spot could be where to go when anathlete is appropriately reacting to the opponent's offensive movementsand passing, or to go to the open area within the opponent's defense tobe better able to score for their team. In American football, thedesignated spot could be where he should be to tackle the ball carrier,the gap to run through to gain yards, the area to throw from and who tothrow to, the area to be in for pass coverage, etc. The ability to dothis would be based on the user's interactions with the presentinvention during the drill, including, but not limited to: pressing keyson a keyboard, clicking a mouse on the screen, moving a mouse on thescreen, tapping the touchscreen of a cellphone, smartphone, tablet, orcomputer, tilting a cellphone or smartphone in a specific direction, orphysically moving with a motion-detection device attached to the body.

When introducing elements of the present disclosure or the embodiment(s)thereof, the articles “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to mean thatthere are one or more of the elements. Similarly, the adjective“another,” when used to introduce an element, is intended to mean one ormore elements. The terms “including” and “having” are intended to beinclusive such that there may be additional elements other than thelisted elements.

While the disclosure refers to exemplary embodiments, it will beunderstood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be madeand equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, manymodifications will be appreciated by those skilled in the art to adapt aparticular instrument, situation or material to the teachings of thedisclosure without departing from the spirit thereof. Therefore, it isintended that the disclosure not be limited to the particularembodiments disclosed.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for providing a cognitivereinforcement system for one or more players on a sports team,comprising: a client-server computer system including a server computerconnected to a plurality of client computers over a wide area network,the server computer system having a team administration module, aplaybook module, a schedule keeping module, and a grading module,wherein the team administration module: creates and maintains a teamschedule; and stores contact information and position information forthe one or more players, information about one or more opponents, atleast one essay, at least one quiz, and the team schedule; and whereinthe grading module provides access to a running grade and a level of atleast one player.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the playbookmodule: creates at least one playbook; allows documents to be uploadedto the server computer; provides access to the at least one playbook;and sets the preferences for a team offense and a team defense.
 3. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the schedule keeping module: allows theplayer to participate in one or more drills.
 4. The apparatus of claim1, wherein the schedule keeping module: uploads a scouting report; viewsthe scouting report; views and edits at least one video clip; and enterssituational data and results data pertaining to the at least one videoclip.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the team administrationmodule comprises: a contact information submodule; a schedule managementsubmodule; a drill settings submodule; an opponent submodule; and anoffensive and defensive submodule.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe schedule keeping module comprises: a drill simulator submodule; anda video editor submodule.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theclient computer: provides access to the drill simulator submodule andthe video editor submodule; and allows a user to view a grade and levelassociated with one or more of the one or more players.
 8. The apparatusof claim 7, wherein the drill simulator submodule is configured toimprove the cognition of the player in relation to one or more drillsrelated to one or more sports.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein: thedrill simulator submodule continuously provides one or more drills for aplayer to perform within the system, the drill simulator submoduleincreases the grade upon the player successfully performing the drill,the drill simulator submodule increases the level upon the playerobtaining a predetermined grade for the current level, and the maximumlevel that can be achieved corresponds to the maximum likelihood thatthe player will successfully perform the drill.
 10. The apparatus ofclaim 8, wherein: the drill simulator submodule continuously providesone or more drills for a player to perform within the system, the drillsimulator submodule decreases the grade upon the player unsuccessfullyperforming the drill, the drill simulator submodule decreases the levelupon the player obtaining a predetermined grade for the current level,and the minimum level that can be achieved corresponds to the minimumlikelihood that the player will successfully perform the drill.